International applicants

International applicants have to notice, first of all, that a high number of applicants from abroad is on equal terms with German applicants. This “legal equality in terms of admission” applies to:

Non-native educational residents – that is to say any non-native or stateless applicants having achieved a German higher education entrance qualification or already having graduated from a German higher education institution.

Nationals of a Member State of the European Union (EU).

Nationals of a Member State of the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) that are no members of the EU (i.e. Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway).

Family members residing in the Federal Republic of Germany (within the sense of Article 10 of the Regulation (EEC) No. 1612/68) of nationals of another Member State of the European Union or Member States of the Agreement of the European Economic Area provided that these nationals are employed within the Federal Republic of Germany.

International applicants generally come to a German state institution of higher education by means of the „Arbeits- und Servicestelle für ausländische Studienbewerbung“, (in short: uni-assist; University Application Service for International Students). Not all higher education institutions cooperate with uni-assist when it comes to the dialogue-oriented service procedure. It is therefore advisable for applicants to consult uni-assist as well as hochschulstart.de in order to find out whether an application via uni-assist is necessary for their desired course of study.

Which courses of study or higher education institutions have to be applied for via uni-assist, you can find under www.uni-assist.de. Furthermore, you get additional information there on how the application process proceeds and on whether you need to register for this process with hochschulstart.de. You should keep in mind to ask closely at the higher education institution of your choice in advance of your application if and to what extent foreign certificates or services, you might have done, are recognized and how the necessary language skills have to be proved, as the case may be.